But perhaps most precious of all the Bible's contributions to our literature is the gift of its spirit. The creators of the best in English have shared that spirit in that their works have shared the Bible's lofty purposes. Who so earnestly preaches the living of a life as John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress? Who more resembles the Hebrew seer warning his people of their danger, than Lincoln, when with solemn prophecy he declares: "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free"? Carlyle calling the world to repentance, Dickens and Thackeray calling it to reform, Emerson pointing new heights for reason and faith and love, Browning proclaiming "The best is yet to be"--each in his own way seeks to bring in the Kingdom. And what is the spirit of the Bible, unless it be the spirit of a people seeking after God if haply they might find Him? If we should study what has called out the best in men or letters in order that we may understand that best, how much more ought we to know the Bible for itself. The deep experiences of the soul are the {115} stuff of which literature is made; and in language whose appeal is alike to the wise and the simple this Book dramatizes the life of the soul. Though struggling much between right and wrong and falling often, the Old Testament heroes groped their way upward to better things, and established their belief in one God upon a firm foundation. Their story is the epic of the soul's struggle and victory; but it is also the revelation of humanity's past, the mirror of its present of progress and defeat, the prophecy of its triumphant future. The Psalms, in the words of Heine, collect within themselves "sunrise and sunset, birth and death, promise and fulfillment--the whole drama of humanity." Excepting only those of the New Testament literature, no authors of any land or time have seized upon truths so unchanging and so everlasting as the writers of Job and the books of the Prophets. Ignoring life's vanities, soaring far above the things that are temporal, these writings ever summon the minds of men to dwell upon things eternal. Finally in the literature of the New Testament the victories of faith replace the victories of war; the groping instinct of survival is justified in the Demonstration of Immortality; the Cult of the Chosen People gives way to the Gospel of Universal Brotherhood; the Omnipotent Creator is revealed also the God of Love; the Deity of Retribution and Justice becomes a Father; Man, the Child. {116} QUESTIONS BRINGING OUT THE BIBLE'S LITERARY VALUE 1. The Poetry of the Bible What is the difference between the rhythm of Hebrew poetry and that of English poetry? 11 S.A. What three forms does this rhythm take? 12 S.A. In the words quoted from Jesus are any of these forms used? 13 S.A. What is the richest part of Biblical poetry? 13 S.A.